Abstract

Nanocomposites composed of one-dimensional (1D) CdS nanowires (NWs) and 1T-MoS2 nanosheets have been fabricated through a two-step solvothermal process. 5 mol% of MoS2 loading results in the best optical properties, photoelectrochemical (PEC) as well as photocatalytic activities for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Compared with pure CdS NWs, the optimized nanocomposite shows 5.5 times enhancement in photocurrent and 86.3 times increase for HER in the presence of glucose and lactic acid as hole scavengers. The enhanced PEC and HER activities are attributed to the intimate contact between MoS2 and CdS that efficiently enhances charge carrier separation. In addition, ultrafast transient absorption (TA) measurements have been used to probe the charge carrier dynamics and gain deeper insight into the mechanism behind the enhanced PEC and photocatalytic performance.

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Hongmei Wang received her BSc degree in 2001 and MSc degree in 2004 from China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China. In 2007, she received his PhD degree from Wuhan University, China. Then, she had her visiting scholar experience from Wuhan University and University of California, Santa Cruz. Currently, she is an associate professor at Jiaxing University. Her research interests focus on the semiconductor-based nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage, and photocatalysis.

Sara Bonabi Naghadeh received her BSc degree in applied Chemistry and her MSc degree in Nano Chemistry from University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. She is currently PhD student and research assistant in Prof. Zhang’s group at University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests include design, synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials for various applications such as chemical and biological sensors, cancer detection, photothermal therapy and photovoltaics.

Jin Zhong Zhang received his BSc degree in Chemistry from Fudan University, Shanghai, China, in 1983 and his PhD in physical chemistry from University of Washington, Seattle in 1989. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at University of California Berkeley from 1989 to 1992. In 1992, he joined the faculty at UC Santa Cruz, where he is currently full professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Zhang’s recent research interests focus on design, synthesis, characterization, and exploration of applications of advanced materials including semiconductors, metals, and metal oxide nanomaterials, particularly in the areas of solar energy conversion, solid state lighting, sensing, and biomedical detection/therapy. He has authored 300 publications and three books. Zhang has been serving as a senior editor for JPC published by ACS since 2004. He is a Fellow of AAAS, APS, and ACS. He is the recipient of the 2014 Richard A. Glenn Award of the ACS Energy and Fuel Division.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51402126). JZZ is grateful to support from Delta Dental Health Associates, NASA through MACES (NNX15AQ01A), and UCSC Committee on Research Special Research Grant.